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History and Development

Jesus claimed to be the Son of God and not God the Son. His belief about God reflected the central tenet of Jewish faith, that God is One.

In many people’s minds, the idea that Christmas evolved from Pagan feasts is given more credence by the fact that many Christmas customs were observed as part of Pagan religion and culture. Yule logs, holly, mistletoe, and evergreen decorations all play a part in many different Pagan festivals. But does that mean that they all stem from the same source? Lights and trees, revelry and gift-giving are common to many different celebrations in many different cultures. But this doesn’t prove that they are derived from the same source. If Christians use them at Christmas, why assume they were all taken from Paganism?

This is a condensed excerpt from a new article on my web site.  Every year when the Holidays roll around we get the usual circulated messages about Christmas. One sector of Christendom cries, “Let’s put Christ back in Christmas” and “Jesus is the reason for the season!” Meanwhile another sector says we can’t put Christ back in Christmas because he was never there to begin with. They claim that Christmas is a Pagan feast and any Christian who observes it is committing idolatry. Obviously both sides can’t be right. Is it Pagan? Is it Christian? Is it both? Is it neither? This article is an attempt to sort it out.

Some have downplayed the significance of the Kingdom because it isn’t mentioned by name as much in the rest of the New Testament, outside of the Synoptic Gospels. But it is mentioned in certain significant passages and tied in with other concepts, using other terminology. The epistles are addressed to people who have already accepted the Gospel of the Kingdom, and now see it from the point of view of “heirs” - a word mentioned quite frequently in the epistles. The promise that Abraham and his seed should be “the heir of the world” (not of “heaven”) is referred to in Romans 4:13-14. And Christians are called heirs in Romans 8:17; Galatians 3:29; 4:1,7; Titus 3:7; Hebrews 1:14; James 2:5; I Peter 3:7.

Since the Reformation, it has been taught more and more among Protestants that Jesus declared the Kingdom to have arrived, but that he taught his disciples the “true” understanding of the Kingdom, namely that of God’s reign in one’s heart.  In addition, another common misunderstanding that leads to the belief that the Kingdom must have been redefined is the question of when Jesus expected it to take place. If Jesus had indeed meant a political kingdom that would overthrow Israel’s oppressors, he would seem to have been wrong about it being “at hand.” Much is made of Jesus’ supposed belief that his return would be in the lifetime of his disciples, but he told them he did not know when he was going to return (Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32).

Jesus proclaimed that the Kingdom of God was near, but that there would be an interim period before it was fully inaugurated. The Kingdom, to him, was primarily the eschatological (end-times) reign and judgment of Messiah on earth. It is in this sense that it would fulfill the promises to Abraham and David, and the many prophecies of the Day of the Lord and the coming of the Son of Man.

The following excerpt is from the online Jewish Encyclopedia regarding the Jewish and Christian perspective on the “Kingdom of God.” The article begins by giving a short overview of the development of the Jewish understanding of thiws concept followed by some commentary on the transistion of the idea into Christianity. Here is some of the except which I thought was interesting:

It is the approach of this Kingdom of Heaven, in opposition to the Kingdom of Rome, which John the Baptist announced (Matt. iii. 2; comp. Luke i. 71-74, iii. 17). Jesus preached the same Kingdom of God (Matthew has preserved in “Kingdom of Heaven” the rabbinical expression “Malkut Shamayim”), and when he said, “the kingdom of God cometh not by observation [that is, calculation] . . . for, behold, the kingdom of God is among [not within] you” (Luke xvii. 21, Syriac version), he meant, “It does not come through rebellion or by force” (see Jew. Encyc. iv. 51, s.v. Christianity).

If any of you are interested in history, specifically Christian history, then this podcast is a must. Lars Brownworth, from Long Island, NY, teaches American History at a private, high school. He became fascinated by the history of the Byzantine empire from Constantine the Great in the early 4th century through to the destruction of Constantinople in a.d. 1453 by the Turks. This was the first explicitly Christian empire and many lessons can be learned from observing its history.

Each podcast varies in time, from 13 to 37 minutes, with each averaging around 20 minutes. Mr. Brownworth is energetic, concise, and easy to listen to throughout his description of each of the 12 major rulers of the Byzantine Empire. I highly recommend it to those of you who have a blank in your minds regarding Byzantium, and would like to have it filled in by someone who tells the story with vigor and erudition. Best of all, it’s free! (Don’t you just love the information age?)

I thought this article was excellent.  My thoughts to follow:

I’ve heard the quote once too often. It’s time to set the record straight—about the quote, and about the gospel.

Francis of Assisi is said to have said, “Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words.”

This saying is carted out whenever someone wants to suggest that Christians talk about the gospel too much, and live the gospel too little. Fair enough—that can be a problem. Much of the rhetorical power of the quotation comes from the assumption that Francis not only said it but lived it.

The problem is that he did not say it. Nor did he live it. And those two contra-facts tell us something about the spirit of our age.

What “recipe” do we use to find the truth of God.  For Christians, we say, “The Scriptures, of course.”  And that’s certainly the way to go.  But what happens when we say, “The Scriptures plus . . .”  I recently came across this quote from Eugene Robinson, bishop in the Epicopal Church, USA.

“First, let’s look at Scripture; but then let’s take a look at how the Church has understood Scripture; and then, let’s put that together with our own experience.  Then ask the question, ‘Is God now revealing something new to us?’  It could be that God is actually teaching us something in this moment that God hasn’t had the opportunity to teach us before.  We have Jesus saying on the night before he was betrayed, ‘There is more that I  would teach you, but you cannot bear it right now; so I will send the holy spirit, who will lead you into all truth.’  God had led us to a new place about people of color, about women, and now, I think, about gay and lesbian people.”